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Morning News

'Hannibal' Opens This Week; Hopkins Revives 'Silence of the Lambs' Role

Aired February 7, 2001 - 10:41 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: This is what I call a bad dream movie.

LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Why, it will give you one or?

KAGAN: Absolutely.

HARRIS: It takes one to -- takes one watch it.

KAGAN: No. It might be a perfectly good movie. But it gives you bad dreams.

Hannibal Lecter is back.

HARRIS: All right, and so is Michael Okwu. He's standing by in New York. He's going to tell us all about that and much more.

Good morning, Michael.

MICHAEL OKWU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, guys.

And let's hope you've finished your breakfast, because that disturbing epicurean is back, indeed. "Hannibal" lands in theaters this week, with Anthony Hopkins reviving his "Silence of the Lambs" role. Hannibal's out of prison now and looking up an old friend, and giving her that same old uneasy, queasy feeling.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OKWU (voice-over): So you read the press reports, if not the book, and you got the feeling Hannibal Lecter had been transformed into a compassionate leading man on the big screen. A romantic, even, with longings for his pursuer, FBI special agent Clarice Starling. This time, Lecter would be a kinder, gentler cannibal. Not exactly.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "HANNIBAL")

ANTHONY HOPKINS, ACTOR: Good evening.

JULIANNE MOORE, ACTRESS: Dr. Lecter.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOPKINS: He's back. OKWU: Ten years after "The Silence of the Lambs," Hannibal is back, and with a backdrop to die for.

HOPKINS: I went off to Florence in April last year. And I remember the first day standing on the banks of the Arno River. And that's where we started. That's the fascinating thing about a movie. You start with one little piece of the jigsaw.

OKWU: But it wasn't easy putting the pieces in place before shooting began. First, Universal Pictures almost balked at the estimated $80 million production costs. Then, original director Jonathan Demme declined to make the film after reportedly finding the book distasteful.

The film was almost shelved after Jodie Foster declined to reprise her role as Starling.

(on camera): You know, word is that she didn't want to reprise her role because she didn't like the direction of the story. Did you have any of those concerns?

HOPKINS: No.

OKWU: Not at all?

HOPKINS: No, not at all. My only reaction was, Oh, well, OK. It would have been nice work with her again, but that was her decision. So I was really pleased when Julianne Moore was chosen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "HANNIBAL")

MOORE: He's always with me, like a bad habit.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MOORE: Jodie was so wonderful. She was really great in it. And so, of course, I had some trepidation. But in a sense, it just sort of raises the bar a little bit for you and makes you kind of look and say, OK, well, I just need to go in there and do the best job I can.

OKWU: The filmmakers assembled material that will surely inspire water-cooler conversation, and a celebrated cast featuring Italian film star Giancarlo Giannini, and Gary Oldman in a role where he's barely recognizable.

Ray Liotta appears in a scene that will likely be talked about for years.

RAY LIOTTA, ACTOR: That is a surprise, but it is something that's riveting. It's -- "gruesome"'s too harsh of a word.

OKWU (on camera): It's something I've never seen on film.

LIOTTA: That's -- that's a great way to put it.

OKWU (voice-over): Any way you slice it, this is Hannibal's film.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "HANNIBAL")

HOPKINS: I'm giving serious thought to eating your wife.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOPKINS: In a way, you like watching, Who do you need getting out at the box? What's -- what's he going to do next?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

OKWU: We don't know what Hannibal's going to do next. But we do know -- we do know what we're going to do. We're going to Disneyland -- or right next door to it.

Disney opens its new California Adventure theme park, alongside Disneyland in Anaheim today. Disney's California Adventure has 25 new attractions for visitors.

Join us for our next "SHOWBIZ TODAY" reports, less than an hour from now, at 11:35 a.m. Eastern time, when we take you live on the rides on opening day.

For now, I'm Michael Okwu reporting from New York. Now, back to you, Daryn, in Atlanta.

KAGAN: All right. It looks like fun. Michael, thank you very much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com

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